The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1887-06-19
SOME NEW hooks.
rEenry Clay.
yIHgT ARTICLE.

Inc invest auuluOn W t1o huciicttA
Statesmen" series. now In course OF publication
Houghton. Miflin Coz is HENRY Clay, by CAM
6cHuRz. To Henry Clay alone, OF all the notable
Americans whose biographies have been In
cluded In this collection. two volumes have been
allotted. and the exception IL justined by the
multitude OF momentous public questions with
which Mr.. Clay was cohspicuously associated
during his unusually long public life. Ofwhat
other American statesman indeed. can 1t be said
that he stood prominently in tho public eye for
nearly half century. from the Presidency OF
Jefferson to the eve Of tho election Of Franklin
Plcrco3 The book which Mr. Sohurz has given
us 10 in truth history Of the whole period be-
tween tho Embargo and tho elimination OF
the pro -slavery movement in tho repeal Of tho
Missouri Compromise Tho mere enumera-
ton Of tho measures which Mr.. Clay advo-
Gated or opposed. will demonstrate that
single volume could have given no ade-
quate idea OF the importance Of tho part
which no played in American politics.
Among such measures will be ut once recalled
the declaration OF war against Great Britain In
1912, Of which Mr.. Clay could claim to have
boon the tchief author, the tariff law OF 1916
and all the tarir legislation Of the next thirty
years. the attempt to reincorporate the United
Btates Bank, the Missouri Compromise. the
Oregon controversy. tho annexation OF Texas
and ensuing war with Mexico, and tho compro-
misc Of 1850. II Is certainly amazing that
through 90 many crises which wrecked the in
fuence or hopes Of many contemporary,
Henry Clay should have passcd without being
fatally scathed and should have retained to
the last, in but slightly diminished measure. 0
towering ascendancy over his countrymen.
Neither can It be said that his greatness was
relative, duo largely to the lack OF powerful
rivals. for among his coevals were Webster and
Calhoun, two Of the strongest intellects that
this country has produced. Both Of Thorn came
TO the political arena incomparably better
equipped than Clay In respect OF education
for Clay's educational advantages had not
transcribed the low level Of Patrick Henry's-
and yet II we keep in view the feelings and
opinions, not OF q section. but Of the whole re-
public, neither Webster nor Calhoun could ever
pretend to vie with Henry Clay in the admira-
ton Of his countrymen.
Aside from the literary merit Of Mr. Schurz's
book-no candid reader can fail TO recognize
its marked superiority on this score to any
other biography which has yet appeared
In this collection-its historical value Is
lncontrovertible This fundamental merit
we can exemplify by showing how care
II.
ton Of Henry Clay to the great public ques-
lions to which we have referred above. and
with which he was moro or 'less intimately as
ISOLATED In the public mind. We will only pre-
mise-what Mr.. SchurB Is sedulous to bring
out distinctly-that Clay, like Calhoun. was By
birth totally unconnected with the Southern
aristocracy. and that the very limited instruc-
Vion he received from others was. In his case
not supplemented by rigorous sclf-education.
He had . marvellous gift OF words. and the
power OF communicating emotion. but he did
not have Calhoun's gift OF logical. consecutive.
exhaustive thinking. In the second place, the
accident Of his migration to Kentucky counted
for o groat deal in the curly promotion Of
his political fortunes. It is highly i'm
probable that In any OF the older
States o man Of Henry Clay's limitations
would have been sent to tho Federal Sem
ate before he was 30 years Of age. or before, in
other words, he was legally eligible. After fill
ing the unexpired remnants Of two terms in
that Chamber. where, young as he was, he
quickly rose to be the leader Of the JET
fersonian or Democratic Republican MAORI
t.. no entered for the first time. in 1911. tho
Federal House Of Representatives, and was at
once elected Speaker. To appreciate how truly
from the start he was the spoiled child Of po-
li.ical fortune, We should also boar in mind
that before no was 40 years Of age no had re-
fuse the post Of Secretary Of War, the mission
10 Russia. and the mission to England. but had
consented to act as one OF the Commissioners
to arrange treaty Of peace with Great Britain
in 1914. He was but At years old in 1924, when
he was ono OF the four contestants for the
Presidency, and became President maker by
turning over his votes to John Quincy Adams
II now We turn back, and mark In the pages
OF his present and ablest bioGraphor. the i'm
print which Henry Clay made on nationallegis-
lation, We shall find that he was as indiner-
ent as was Calhoun to consistency. yet his
veering opinions. unlike Calhouns. were not
rammed into the iron mould Of relentless
logic but instinctiyely adjusted to the auctu-
ating currents Of popular feeling or conviction.
Clay came to public life in Kentucky rs a zeal
Gus partisan Of Jefferson and a strict construo-
ton OF tho Federal Constitution: but he had
scarcely entered the Senate before he became
q vehement, and presently tho lending, advo-
cato OF an extensive system Of public works or
nternalimprovements, whose legality. without
4 constitutional amendment, Jefferson him
self considered extremely doubtful. As
early rs his second term in the Sen.
nto 1809-l0). Clay became nm advocate OF
encouraging native industry by a protective
tariff. though. as Mr.. Schurz points out. he docs
not seem ut this time to have had in view " the
building w Of large Industries by protection,
but Just q little manufacturing to run along
with agriculture, enough to keep the people in
clothes, and the navy well supplied with hemp,
and SO to relieve the country OF its dependence
on foreign nations in case OF war" As to the
war Of 1912. now generally acknowledged to
havo been. under all tho circumstances Of tho
case. q blrnder. Mr.. Schurz evidently believes
that but for Horny Claywho was then Speaker
OF the House, and exercised commanding in
auence over his fellow mombers, the contest
would not have taken place. Whom the
British Orders in Council. which had Pre-
viously been the main pretext for the
war. were withdrawn. only few days
after the declaration Of hostilities, Clay insist
ed that the impressmont Of American seamcn
wasa sufficient provocation yet less than three
years aftcrward. as one OF tho Commissioners
Mt Client, he signed and defended q treaty OF
peace by which the grievance which no had
declared intolerable was left undated. 1t is
also curious fact. too often overlooked by
Clay's indiscriminate admirers. that. In 1Sl1.
but for his vote in the Senate and his fniluenee
".